How to Choose Primary Care, Prompt Care, or the ER

How to Make the Best Choice for Your Care: Primary Care, Prompt Care or the ER?

When an illness or injury interrupts your day, it’s not always easy to know where to go first. Should you wait for your primary care provider? Head to Prompt Care? Or is it serious enough for the emergency room?

Knowing how to make the best choice can help you get the right level of care while saving time, reducing stress, and ensuring you’re seen by the team best equipped to help.

At Adventist Health Delano, we’re here to guide you — and to give you quick access to care close to home.

When to Choose Prompt Care

Prompt Care is designed for non-life-threatening illnesses and injuries that still need attention right away. It’s the perfect choice when your primary care provider is unavailable or when symptoms appear suddenly.

Our Prompt Care team treats:

• Back strains
• Bronchitis
• Bug bites and stings
• Cuts and minor burns
• Cough
• Diarrhea and vomiting
• Earaches
• Flu and cold symptoms
• Sinus and nasal conditions
• Sore throat
• Sprains and minor fractures

Prompt Care offers walk-in convenience, on-site diagnostics and a knowledgeable team ready to help you feel better fast. Many patients appreciate being able to get same-day care without a long wait — and still within the Adventist Health system they know and trust.

When to Choose Primary Care

Your primary care provider is your long-term partner in health. They manage chronic conditions, preventive care, and follow-up appointments that help you stay well.

Choose primary care for:

• Wellness exams
• STI screenings
• Medication refills or medication assessments
• Pain management and chronic pain
• Complex sports physicals
• Follow-up after an ER visit
• Follow-up after a hospital stay

Whenever possible, start with your primary care provider for non-urgent issues. They know your medical history and can help keep your care coordinated and consistent.

When to Choose the Emergency Room (ER)

The ER is the right choice for life-threatening or severe symptoms that require immediate, advanced treatment.

Go to the ER for:

• Chest pain or suspected heart attack
• Dehydration
• High fever (over 104°F)
• Loss of consciousness
• Major bleeding
• Persistent vomiting or diarrhea
• Severe abdominal pain
• Severe burns
• Stroke symptoms
• Snakebite
• Severe withdrawal

If you believe you or someone else is experiencing a medical emergency, call 911 or go to the nearest emergency department.

Still Not Sure? We’re Here to Help.

At the end of the day, your health and safety matter most. If you’re unsure where to go, remember that our Adventist Health Delano team will always guide you to the right place, even if it isn’t Prompt Care.

Fast, Convenient Care Right Here in Delano

When an immediate medical issue arises, it’s comforting to know that quality care is right here in Delano. Our Prompt Care team is staffed with physicians, advanced practice providers and nurses who are ready to treat you at once upon your arrival — helping you get back out there, enjoying what you love.

Adventist Health Delano Prompt Care